VEIN TRIO AT THE GONVILLE HOTEL
Vein Trio - sensational
The moment Michael Arbenz rippled across his keyboard it promised a brilliant performance from the ultra - cool VEIN trio. A tribute to the allure of Cambridge Modern Jazz Club and its music mad team the celebrated European jazzers had flown in specially from Basel for this one -night performance. And what a sophisticated show it was.
Jazz is a strange phenomenon. It is spontaneous, created in the moment – essentially improvised and at its core unexpected. Yet it is generated somewhere, and that place is usually the American songbook, where a theme is snatched, swung and metamorphosized.
Vein Trio take an alternative tack. As CMJ front man David Gower explains, they are classical musicians by training. Instead of the 1920s blues greats, they use tunes from classical music as their model. It gives them endless scope and the result is both familiar – and wonderfully original.
The promising piano start soon morphed into melodic counterpoint with Thomas Lahne on a brilliant bass and drew in the subtle drums (well at that point, more about percussion later) of Florian Abrbenz. It was a gorgeous composition by Michael called Luce based on the Russian composer Scriabin .– followed by a mesmerically original Stravinsky-inspired piece entitled Restless.
The effect on the audience of these manipulations of the old Master of Music was sensational. Mr. Mozart and Mr. Tchaikovsky as Michael called them, emerged in the funkiest of upbeat versions. Dvorak featured -the unmistakable Hovis ad drifted out of his Vein treatment, You couldn’t help but wonder whether these venerated composers of yesteryear would most probably be pacey jazzmen in our day. Splendidly Beethoven’s famous Fifth finished the evening- with a stunning (almost literally) drum explosion from Florian still has my ears ringing ( keep those decibels down to safety level chaps!). But it was a magnificent evening of lovely music.
Yes we know there has been Jaques Loussier with his Bach (Vein performed a fabulous Bach-based piece too) and there was the Swingle singers, but this trio have taken the Great European Songbook out for an exciting tour of what jazz can do. Long may they flourish – and return to Cambridge Modern Jazz soon – fast getting a reputation for the coolest jazz anywhere
